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Shongweni brewery, Durban
by Willard Clarke, 05/08
Enterprising Pierhead Imports have just brought a range of South African beers from the Durban Shongweni brewery to the UK. The range of beers are all bottle-conditioned brews, and inlcude
several fruit beers made with local, seasonal fruit.
Indeed, the "natural" character of these beers is a key to the Shongweni thinking: all pour a very hazy and slightly muddy colour, and the fruit beers take only a gentle influence from the fruit. Yeasts and hops are carefully
chosen for each style of beer.
I found a little bottle variation in these beers, which I guess is the price to pay for bottling "live" beers, and a lot of care is needed to avoid a glass full of heavy yeast sediment - if you choose to avoid it. But then that's also
what makes these beers interesting and worthwhile: it is clear that the brewers of Shongweni are treading a very idiosyncratic path, and are producing some very fine beers. More power to them.
the beers
Shongweni Brewery, Durban Pale Ale (South Africa) 
This is my favourite beer in Shongweni's range, a hoppy brew with 40 units of bitterness that uses Cascade and Challenger hops and an English ale yeast. It pours a hazy Caramac colour, with an immediate blast of marmalade orange on the nose, a toffee character and just a hint of spice. On the palate it is medium- to full-bodied, and an initial hit of sweetness is soon swept along by a tide of nicely chewy and tangy hops and a gentle fruitiness. 5.7% ABV, 34cl, �1.79, Beersofeurope, .  |  |
Shongweni Brewery, East Coast Ale (South Africa)
Brewers Gold and Challenger hops are used in Robson's East Coast Ale, a golden beer (though hazy and live as are all of Robson's beers) with 25 units of bitterness. It is a lively beer, pouring a hazy yellow/gold colour with a fluffy white head. It has a crisp and appetising nose too, with lemon and a touch of coriander or something floral and leafy. The palate is crisp, and this beer has good citrus and bitter hop bite, with a creaminess to the texture nicely off-set by plenty of tangy fruitiness. Very nice, and at just 4.0 ABV, very drinkable. 4.0% ABV, 34cl, �1.75, Beersofeurope, .  |  |
Shongweni Brewery, Mango Fruit Beer (South Africa)
This bottle-conditioned, unpasteurised beer from South Africa is brewed with barley and wheat, and brewed with fresh local mango. It is said to be 'strongly influenced by the monastic brewers from Belgium,' and the brewery employs only locally-grown fruits with Hallertau and Saaz hops. It pours a very hazy pale yellow, with a thick, fluffy head. There's a delightful hint - but only a hint - of mango on the nose, which is otherwise dominated by yeasty, clove and bubblegum aromas. On the palate this is nicely understated again, with the fresh, lemony bite of the beer and nicely bittering hops just sweetened and layered with juicy, ripe mango. Gentle and lovely stuff. 4.0% ABV, 34cl, �1.75, Beersofeurope, . |  |
Shongweni Brewery, Pineapple Fruit Beer (South Africa)
Like all the Fruit beers in Robson's range, the pineapple used to flavour this bottle-conditioned ale is grown locally. It pours a pale, very cloudy yellow, with a thick, foamy white head. Once again it is the faintly medicinal, clove-like spice of the wheat that comes through most strongly, with the slightly luscious note of pineapple and a deal of grassy hop behind. On the palate this is dry, lemony and very grown-up, with a big cutting, pithy character and just hints of the pineapple that are soon overtaken by the hops and acids of the finish. 4.0% ABV, 34cl, �1.75, Beersofeurope, .  |  |
Shongweni Brewery, Strawberry Fruit Beer (South Africa)
Brewed with fresh, seasonal strawberries, this beer from Robson's is a subtle one, with a whiff of ripe, summery strawberry as it is opened, but then the aroma proving fairly elusive once this hazy, pale yellow/orange beer is poured. There is a fruitiness, and warming, creamy malt. On the palate the strawberry comes through once more, but not in the sweet, jammy style of some Belgian fruit beers. Here the fruit is slightly lost beneath a reasonably bitter finish and malty mid-palate. 4.0% ABV, 34cl, �1.75, Beersofeurope, .  |  |
Shongweni Brewery, Wheat Beer (South Africa)
Robson's wheat beer uses unmalted wheat as well as malted barley, Hallertau and Saaz hops and German yeast in a heavily cloudy beer (like all in Robson's bottle-conditioned range). It pours quite a dark, caramel colour with a thinnish off-white head. The nose has decent amounts of clove and spice, as well as a deal of caramel that makes it peachier, if less citrussy than some wheats. On the palate lovers of the striking, almost antiseptic quality of some really clove-like wheat beers might be disappointed, as this presents a fairly straightforward, if enjoyable palate of lemon and orange fruit with a modest hop presence. 5.0% ABV, 34cl, �1.75, Beersofeurope, . |  |
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